Dr. Ben Carson thrilled the nation with his plain talk about political correctness, tax reform, and health insurance at the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 7. President Barack Obama, seated a few feet away, did not seem impressed–and neither were Democrats such as Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who slammed Dr. Carson’s remarks as “not appropriate” on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley Sunday morning.

Schakowsky accused Carson of using political correctness, rather than fighting it: “Well, I think that there’s a political correctness that he was trying to use to appeal to a conservative audience,” she said, shaking her head. She went on to criticize Carson for making a “political speech” in front of Obama and in a specifically religious context.

I think it’s really–not really an appropriate place to make this kind of political speech, and to invoke God as support for that kind of view. But I think of most of all the kind of message that he was giving shows a real empathy gap with where the American people are right now, and I think it’s reflective of where many of the Republicans and Tea Parties are right now, that we need to have an economy that works for everyone.

In his address, Carson had specifically avoided taking a partisan point of view, noting that the American bald eagle needed both a “right wing” and a “left wing” to take flight.